PARENTS in North Oxford could fund their children’s centre without county council help as it faces the threat of closure.

North Oxford Children’s Centre in Wren Road, Cutteslowe, is one of 36 in the county that would cease to be funded under proposals to go to consultation.

The county council says it can no longer afford to offer universal services at the centres and proposes to replace them – as well as seven early intervention hubs – with eight ‘family and resource centres’, to save £8m.

Three would be in Oxford, at Barton, Blackbird Leys and Rose Hill with others in Banbury, Bicester, Witney, Abingdon, and Didcot.

But it has sparked the Save Oxfordshire’s Children’s Centres Campaign and a petition against the closures which so far has almost 5,500 signatures.

Nadia Yau, of Cutteslowe, said parents aim to draw up a business plan for the North Oxford Children’s Centre, which could include parents paying contributions for universal services.

The 34-year-old, who visits the centre with her son Junion Yau-Harrison, three, said: “They are so important for the first part of a child’s life, when they need social and emotional interaction.

“For my kids it has taught them to be around other children before school. Our centre brings people together and is at the heart of our community.”

Mrs Yau said keeping universal services was important as it ensured children met people from a range of backgrounds.

She added: “You need a mix. If you have only one type of people it is going to create a very thin tapestry of learning.

“I know parents who would contribute something if it meant not losing sessions.”

Children’s centres offer activities for under-fives and support for parents. Early intervention hubs have services for children and families, targeting drug and alcohol use, teenage pregnancies and school exclusions, as well as youth unemployment.

But under new proposals, the county council would create a new service covering youngsters up to age 19, targeted only at helping the most vulnerable.

Lib Dem county councillor for Wolvercote and Summertown Jean Fooks, who covers Cutteslowe, said: “I knew staff at the children’s centre were doing a great job, but the response to its possible closure has been beyond anything I expected.

“There are people for whom it has been a life-saver and it has supported others who were finding things very difficult indeed.”

A consultation on the proposals is expected to begin at the end of this month.

It will outline three options, with the creation of the eight new centres the preferred one.

The second option involves continuing some universal services at the eight centres but reducing ‘outreach’ work, with the third having six centres and £1m in grants to support community-ran services.